If Mars were a fruit in the produce aisle (and, let’s be honest, it would make a decent-looking nectarine), NASA could slap an organic sticker on it. Researchers at the space agency announced Thursday that the Curiosity rover has discovered strong concentrations of organic molecules in 3-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks on the red planet’s surface. That doesn’t mean they’ve found life, but it’s a good indication Mars could have sustained life in the past. While Curiosity encountered organic carbon on the planet’s surface back in 2012 and again in 2013, NASA said Thursday this most recent find was in concentrations 100 times greater than earlier detections. “Curiosity has not determined the source of the organic molecules,” cautioned Jen Eigenbrode of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in a NASA release.

Source: Huffington Post June 07, 2018 22:52 UTC